Listen to my heart beat
by SnowGuardian
Summary: Setting on an adventure Naruto hopes to distract his mind from a certain someone and to grow stronger. But what happens when Naruto meets one of the other team members that reminds him of someone he was trying so hard to forget?
1. Have we met before?

**Disclaimers:** _First of all, I could never EVER owe anything as awesome as Naruto or any other characters. All credits go to Masashi Kishimoto and others. AND second of all, I'm just here to abuse them for my own selfish needs and amusement..._

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><p><strong>Chapter 1- Have we met before?<strong>

The sun had yet to make its appearance over the still sleeping villagers in Konoha when a girl came sprinting down the street, her short pink hair waved in

the wind. "Damn him! I knew he would oversleep!" She cursed under her breath and picked up her speed. As she ran around the corner she crashed on full

speed into someone, both falling flat on the ground.

Her fury soon turned into surprise as she saw the one she had crashed into. Those bright blue eyes and sun licked blond hair, who else could that belong to

than to the idiot she had been running to go get.

"Naruto!" She yelled at him.

"Sakura-chan!" He called back, smiling his usual big smile.

"Don't 'Sakura-chan' me! You are late!" Sakura stood up, towering over him as she dusted herself, aiming the filth at him. Naruto bared his hands in remorse

in front of him. "I'm sorry, no really! Old granny Tsunade made it clear to me to be on time. But I guess I lost track of time on my way over here..." He

smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head with his hand.

Sakura closed her mouth slowly, studying his expression. She saw something else behind his smile, a hint of sadness. "Was it because of Sas-"But she could

not bear herself to say his name out loud, so short after their reunion.

Naruto snapped his eyes open, grabbing with one hand on Sakura's shoulder. "No, no nothing like that, Sakura-chan." He smiled reassuringly to her. "You

know me, the goofball! I was just admiring the village so early in the morning. I have never been up so early, so I simply forgot myself!" He stuck out his

tongue and crossed his eyes. But Sakura had been right, he had been thinking of Sasuke. Or more precisely, how Sasuke had grown so powerful and strong

in these past three years while it seemed he hadn't grown a thing...What had he been doing these past years?

"Well, we should probably head to Tsunade's office. Before she kills us both." Naruto tried to change the topic. Sakura smiled faintly. "Yes let's go..."

###

"YOU IMBECILES! What were you doing?" Tsunade's thunderous voice echoed through the village. The two imbeciles shrank together as they watched the

vein in her forehead grow bigger by the second. "How DARE YOU make me wake up at an ungodly hour and then show up late!" Her enormous breast

bounced up and down, completely captivating Kakashi's attention.

"Well, technically it was only Naruto who was late..." Sakura innocently slipped in between Tsunade's nostril flares.

Sighing deeply and massaging her temples she continued, now a bit calmer. "Doesn't matter, we don't have a lot of time left, so let me go over your mission

again!"

She looked determinedly at each three of them, making sure whether they were paying attention, especially the other two, or not. Kakashi she didn't have

to worry about, for he had stood there the whole time without saying a word looking as indifferent and unenthusiastic as ever.

"The client is Lord Fukaku, one of the feudal lords in the fire country. Which means? That not only is this an important mission, it is SUPER important! It's a

top secret S-rank mission, which means you will travel few in numbers even though there are great risks of being attacked." She explained seriously. "You

are to help escort two very important persons to a location that I do not know where is." The hokage finished, giving them a signal that they were

excused.

"This is the only information we get?" Naruto asked disbelievingly.

"Tsunade-sama, how are we supposed to help if we don't know a thing about the mission? Not even where we are going?" Sakura stepped closer to

Tsunade, placing both of her hands on Tsunade's desk.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at Sakura, her hands resting under her chin. Sighing again she spoke lower. "This client is my friend, who I owe a lot to. He

asked me to hire a team of people who I trust, and I trust you. You are to team up with a few other people who he trusts. All in all you will be about

eleven people on this journey, keeping it as small as we can to arouse no suspicion or attention. Those that are on the mission are you three plus Rock

Lee, since Sai is on other errands, his four member team, ship members and last but not least, two little girls. They are the ones you must protect your

lives with because they are the ones your enemies will be after. "

"Aha, that was a lot better. And where are we going?" Naruto grinned at Tsunade, who couldn't resist a small smile tugging on her lips.

"Like I said before, I do not know where you are going. The client wants to keep this as much of a secret as he can, so only he himself and his navigator

know the way to the island. What I DO know is that you are to meet them at the harbour at the nearest village from here. There you will meet tomorrow

and there you will get further instructions..." this time she was determined that was all she would have to say, and slammed her fist onto her desk that

nearly broke to smithereens. "NOW, get going!" she roared at them, Sakura and Naruto running as fast as they could followed by Kakashi walking lazily

behind. Finally she could sneak away before Shizuna would come back bothering her with some chores...

#  
>The village had just begun to wake up when the four people met in front of the village gate, all packed and ready. Naruto was radiating with anticipation to<p>

head out on a journey where the destination was unknown, mostly because of Rock Lee's contagious excitement which he clearly showed by jumping up

and down and yelling random things like "We can do it!" and "If I fail this mission, I will do ONE THOUSAND LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE ON ONE HAND!" But

Naruto was also excited because Kakashi had promised to continue training him and to help him to have better control over his new technique, The Rasen

shuriken. He was determined to get stronger, and fast!

"So, shall we go?" Sakura smiled to her team members.

###

At the same time, a whole day´s travel away, was another team heading to the same harbour. Two young females and two males travelling on a horse

carriage. Inside it they kept their luggage and two big cages, especially in that purpose to hide them.

"Please, could you let us out for just a second?" The 'prisoner' asked. A middle-aged man, tall with a silky black ponytail and covered in scars walked closer

to the carriage. "You know I am not allowed to do that." His deep calm voice answered. "Not after you tried to escape earlier..." He added with humour,

some fine lines forming around his eyes.

"Damn it Ren, I was hoping you had forgotten about that..." A child's voice retorted teasingly.

"Ssh!" The taller female raised her hand, ordering the others to stop. Her light grey eyes scanning around the clearing for an enemy and listening carefully.

But the only sound came from the wind, slightly undulating her long purple hair.

"What is it Shizuka?" the other girl asked after a while, hazel-nut eyes trying to locate what had disturbed the other woman.

"I said be quiet, Yuki!" Shizuka retorted and yanked on her long brown braid. "I sense a strange, yet familiar chakra near here..." She hissed out.

Suddenly they heard rustles in the bushes, all four grabbing their weapons with quick and practised moves, they prepared themselves for a fight. But when

the culprit stepped out of the bushes they immediately let down their weapons and sighed with relief, after Shizuka had nodded to them that it was okay.

"Geez, what were you trying to do? Give us a heart attack?" Yuki addressed the young man stepping out of the bushes.

"So you finally decided to come...You knew we were supposed to meet outside the temple, Haku..." Ren straightened himself and walked towards the

newcomer.

"I got caught up by something..." Haku retorted, his pitch black eyes showing no emotions at all. He was taller than most his age, around sixteen years old.

Thin, but muscular with short black hair. Was considered handsome by many.

"Don't worry about that, what matters is that you are here now..." Ren spoke carefully, full of sympathy. He hadn't known the boy for a long time, but he

knew him well. Well enough to see that Haku had changed dramatically recently, which was understandable...he had just lost his sister not many months

ago. "You sure you are fit to go on this mission?" Ren added, placing his hand softly on Haku's shoulder.

For a moment, Haku seemed to glare at the hand, full of disgust but was soon masked with the same expressionless face as before. "I'm fine...Lord Fukaku

trusted me to watch over those two, and that is what I will do."

The whole time, Shizuka had been tapping impatiently with her foot. "Can we move on?"

Ren looked one last time at Haku. "Yes, let's move on..." As they started to walk, Haku paused to look after them. _'That was too easy...'_

It was around noon the following day, when Naruto felt the scent of ocean in the air. Excited he turned around to face his fellow teammates, announcing

the great news.

"I have been able to smell the ocean since this morning, and you just realised that?" Sakura sighed heavily and gave Naruto her _'you-are-so-stupid-_

_sometimes'_ look.

"Eh, really?" Naruto laughed embarrassedly. "Yes, really!" She slapped the back of his head.

"We're on good time, in fact ahead of schedule." Kakashi interfered the upcoming argue between Sakura and Naruto. "All thanks to you, Rock Lee." It

wasn't really a grateful tone, quite the opposite. Rock Lee being who he was, didn't take a hint from Kakashi, instead he just continued to march on ahead

while shouting encouragements. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei, but it really is thanks to us all!" he flashed him a big smile of determination.

"We should arrive in about an hour or so..." With that in mind the weary travellers continued, picking up their pace and as Kakashi had said, they reached

the harbour within the hour. Sakura and Naruto slumped down by the nearest bench they found when Kakashi stopped to buy some supplies. Meanwhile

Rock Lee continued to jump up and down in front of them, trying to lift their spirits up. It didn´t really work...

After a few minutes Kakashi came out of the store. "Let's go children, we are supposed to meet them on the ship. So move on!" He said and dragged

Sakura and Naruto back on their feet.

#  
>They stopped just a few meters in front of a ship, though it wasn't as glorious and grand as the others around, it still looked great. Neither big nor small...It<p>

was a sturdy ship, painted red. Naruto ran his eyes along the ship, stopping on the figurehead at the front of the ship. It was shaped like a mermaid, a

magnificent mermaid with eyes that could kill you! Apparently Naruto had gawked for a while, because when he snapped out of his trance he found out that

his teammates were nowhere to be found.

"Heheh, they must be on board the ship..." he shrugged sheepishly and started to walk, only to trip over something huge, that apparently had been in front

of him the whole time, and fell flat on his face.

"That hurt..." he heard someone say. Naruto jumped professionally back on his feet and scanned the area around him, but he saw no one. "Who said that?"

"Under here, you idiot!" The voice had come from under the covers that hid something under it. "Don't be so rude to him, sister." Another voice said. He

peeked under and to his surprise he saw two glass cages. Inside them were two small humans, probably two children. He lifted the covers higher up, so the

sun could reveal two little girls sitting inside the glass cages, two pair of extraordinary eyes looking curiously at him. The left eye on one of the girl was

black as the right one on the other girl. The other eyes were white as snow. He could tell that they were sisters, because they looked identical. They even

wore the same silky grey cloaks and had the same hairstyles, except that one had white hair and the other had black hair.

"Uhm, hello?" Naruto greeted them, unsure of what to do.

"Hello!" The white haired girl greeted back, a bit timid, although cheerfully.

"Could you let us out?" The other one asked the confused Naruto. The white haired girl seemed like she was going to protest, but her sister shut her up

with one glance.

"Out? I'm not sure whether I am allowed to do that..." Naruto really wanted to help them. He maybe wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed most of the times,

but he wasn't completely stupid. There must be a reason for them to be in those cages.

The black haired girl seemed to figure out what was bothering him, so she put on her most innocent look. "Me and my sister were just playing hide and seek

with our friends, and she thought it was a good idea to hide here under those covers. Little did we know that these 'boxes' would close and trap us here.

So you must help us, our parents must be worried by now..." Her final punch was to put on a sad pout, which nearly killed Naruto.

"Well, if it happened like that..." Naruto reached forward and began searching the glass box, trying to open it.

"I know how to open it, you only have to type the password on it." The little girl continued, Naruto too busy to notice the mischievous smirk forming on her

face.

###

Meanwhile on board the ship the teams were exchanging greetings.

"Hello, my name is Ren and I will be the navigator. You must be Kakashi-sensei, nice to meet you." Ren met the silver haired man half way and shook his

hand. "Likewise, Ren." Ren then stepped aside, revealing the rest of his team. "From right to left, Shizuka, she is the best sensor type in our village." A tall

woman stepped front and bowed, her expression very serious. When she straightened herself she easily towered over Kakashi, making him feel inferior.

"Yuki, her speciality is guarding jutsus."Now a rather small girl stepped front. She had a very unique face, big eyes, small nose and despite being very thin

she had chubby cheeks. "And this is Sora, he cannot talk since his tongue was cut out. He is a good fighter, but he will work as the cook." An exceptionally

ordinary man stepped front. The only thing that characterised him was his unusually big nose. "And then we have Jeff, the one who will maintain the ship,

but you won't see much of him since he spends the whole journey on the lower deck, besides he doesn't like people very much. And last but not least

Haku, who I don't really know where is...Lord Fukaku especially, included him on this mission, not only because he trusts him the most, but also because

he's an exceptional shinobi." Ren finished, smiling awkwardly after his long introduction, encouraging Kakashi to go on from here.

"Well, this is Sakura and this is Rock Lee." Kakashi finished in one breath, content with just that. Sakura glared angrily at Kakashi before she greeted them

by bowing like a true lady while smiling. Rock Lee however saluted them the military way, his eyes two sparkling stars. "Nice to meet you, I swear on Mighty

Guy's name that I will not disappoint you!"

A footstep behind Kakashi and the others caught their attentions. Turning around, there they saw him. Haku, standing in the doors. Sakura's eyes widened,

and she almost gasped. Could it be? No, no way... It couldn't be. But there he stood, so much like him, with the exact same eyes. Those eyes that could

suck you in, like two black holes. She looked at Kakashi, to be sure that she wasn't the only one who saw this. But to her disappointment Kakashi had that

same carelessness look on him as always. "You must be Haku, nice to meet you. I'm Kakashi Hatatake."

Sakura blinked her eyes before looking back at Haku, studying his face. The tall boy seemed for a sec to struggle to mask his true feelings, but as soon as

it appeared it was gone and a small smile formed on his lips, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Look forward to working with you..." He said.

Sakura shook her head, it was no way in hell that HE would act like that. But as Haku walked past them, she saw Kakashi lift his headband up and his one

eye flashed red. It seemed Kakashi had suspected the same. As Kakashi quickly hid his eye back she wondered what his conclusion was. Rock Lee on the

other hand grabbed cheerfully Haku's hand and shook it furiously. "I will not disappoint you!" He almost yelled, raising his fist high up above his head.

A loud ruckus coming from the streets made them all jolt. Grunting depressingly Sakura explained. "And that would be Naruto..."

#

As soon as Naruto had freed the black haired girl, her eyes had flashed brightly and the other cage that had held her sister had exploded to smithereens.

"Thank you kind boy for freeing us, despite the fact that you shouldn't have!" She laughed loudly, grabbing her sister's hand. Naruto's expression best

described was mortified. "What? You tricked me?" He exclaimed.

"Ah-ha! You see, we aren't really innocent, we were put there because of our crimes, such as stealing, murdering, etc...you name it, and we have done it."

Her eyes flashed with pure madness, as her grin widened. "And so we will continue to do so, thanks to you!" She took a few steps backwards before

running away, dragging her sister with her, who was looking worriedly at shocked Naruto. "You didn't have to lie to him." She spoke to her sister.

"No I didn't, but it was more fun that way!"

"But you must have known that he would follow us because of that..." The white haired girl pointed her sister to the angry blond following them. "...Ah, I

hadn't thought of that." She then picked up her speed and headed to a stair leading to a roof, knocking down a few passengers that were in their way.

"YOU LITTLE BRATS! COME HERE!" Naruto shouted after them. To his surprise, he didn't seem to catch up with the two little girls. 'Quick on their feet I see,

like true thieves I guess...'

The chase continued on the roofs, as they jumped from one roof to another. They weren't any normal little girls it seemed, so Naruto decided to not use

any normal tactics either. He hand signed a couple of shadow clones, planning to corner the little brats. Seeing a fishnet down on the ground he jumped to

grab it, and then jumping as easily up on the roof.

##

"Where are they?" Yuki shouted as she saw the empty cage and the remains of the other. "It's impossible, even for them, to break out of these!"

_'Agh...Naruto...'_ Kakashi and Sakura thought to themselves. "Are you talking about those two little girls, we were supposed to protect?" Sakura asked Ren

who calmly walked to them, nodding to Sakura. "Then why were they in cages?" Sakura sceptically asked him.

"Don't misunderstand, Sakura. But those cages were for their own protection, and so is this journey whether they choose to accept that or not." Ren

explained, seeing Sakura's judging expression. "Haku? Now is a good opportunity to show our new friends your abilities." He glanced up at Haku, who was

sitting on the railing on the ship. Within a flash he had disappeared.

#

Naruto had managed to surround the girls by placing his shadow clones on either side of them, running along. That way he was steering them straight

ahead a big cliff that was no chance to jump over. Naruto smirked with victory.

Meanwhile the two girls had notice Naruto's intentions. The black haired girl cursed him under her breath and glanced at her white haired sister who was

panting rapidly. "We cannot escape!" She wheezed out. But the black haired girl was not going to give up. "I'm not going back to that place!" She hissed

between gritted teeth.

She changed her course suddenly to right, tugging her sister with her, knowing that Naruto's shadow clones were there and no roof to land on. They tried

to jump over the clones, and almost succeeded. One clone, however, managed to pull on the black haired girl's leg for a second before he lost his grip.

Naruto himself following right behind, he threw the fishnet over them midair. All falling to the ground.

Luckily the girls landed in a big haystack, while Naruto crashed flat on his face. The girls rolled out of the haystack, cheering over their victory. But they

cheered too soon, because they rolled right before Haku's feet, who towered over them. The girls admitted their defeats.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, his vision blurry. He sat up and rubbed his head while groaning in pain. When he gained his sight, he hardly believed it. Just

a few meters away, there he stood.

Naruto whispered in disbelief. "Sasuke?"

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><p><em>Please review ^^, I'd really want to know how you feel about this story, whether if this is interesting enough to continue or whatever crosses your little beautiful minds. Whether I need improvements or JUST ANYTHING :D <em>


	2. Resemblance

_Every little review makes my heart flutter and a big goofy smile forms on my face ^^ with buckley teeth and everything. I take them all in count, so please tell me what you think : D  
>Eeheh, Initially this chapter was meant to be short but...clearly is not, maybe that's a good thing? <em>So on we go with the story!  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> "I OWN EVERY CHARACTER IN THIS STORY NO QUESTION ABOUT IT-" *recieves evil glares from the creators* "siiiigh I do not own Naruto nor the characters, I am only using them for my evil masterplan OF DOOM!

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><p><strong>Chapter 2- Resemblance<strong>

The raven haired boy stared down at Naruto with those two emotionless pits for eyes, his expression unreadable although he seemed a little...startled.  
>Naruto tried to stand up, almost immediately regretting it as his head threatened to split in two by the pain. But the whole time, Naruto stared at the boy in front of him. "Sasuke?" He whispered again almost inaudibly.<p>

Their trance was broken by their team running towards them, the two girls took a step back but Haku held them, hindering them from going anywhere.  
>Ren was the first one to arrive, looking angrily at the two girls. He stopped a few meters away from them. "Girls, our main goal was to keep a low profile but here you stand, right in the spotlight..." He scolded them and gestured to the ever growing crowd of village people passing by, giving them funny looks. His disappointment seemed to have a great effect on the girls, because they bowed their heads in shame.<p>

"Now, back in the cages! It seems I can't trust you to stay where you are supposed to be." Yuki came to Ren's side, holding one of the class boxes while Shizuka held the other one, which oddly enough was now whole.

Naruto, who had felt like a bystander the whole time, finally managed to put the puzzles together. 'Those girls must be the ones we are supposed to protect. So protect them I will!' Stumbling he made his way to Haku and stopped between him and Ren, all eyes on him now.  
>"Who are you?" Ren asked the intruder.<p>

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, remember it and remember it well! Because I am their protector and I say they don't go inside these cages!" He sounded a little wobbly, but understandably enough.

"You are Naruto? Young man, that means we are on the same team. We were sent by lord Fukaku with those girls, we are also their 'protectors'." Ren said and raised his arm to stop Shizuka, who was growing more irritated by the minute, from doing something bad to Naruto.  
>"If you were, then you wouldn't put them in cages! They are just little girls." Despite Naruto's HEAVY headache that took all of his attention, he could still feel the burning stare from the boy next to him on his face, making him shift uncomfortably.<br>"Those cages are for their own safety, YOU MORON!" Shizuka snapped, almost throwing the said object at him. Ren had to literally hold her back so she wouldn't. "You have to understand that, Naruto, for reasons just like this one!"  
>Naruto looked down at the two little girls, who were staring back at him, doubt but fondness shining in their eyes. "That's unnecessary, they will just promise me not to do that." Naruto smiled at them, his bright blue eyes full of warmth.<br>Ren sighed and shook his head. "That's not how it works..." He let Shizuka go, and she immediately took a step forward.  
>Naruto looked up and did the same, but as soon as he did, he felt a hard knock on his neck. Losing his balance he turned his head to look at the one who had done it. Before everything went black, he saw those black eyes staring right into his. They weren't emotionless now, quite the contrary. The raven haired boy seemed to enjoy this.<p>

-

Orange sunrays reached through the small porthole and right onto Naruto's sleeping body. Well, not so much sleeping now, thanks to those sunrays...  
>The blond haired boy slowly sat up on the hard bunk, rubbing his head in slight pain. At the same time Sakura walked in, holding a small tray in her hands.<br>"Thank goodness! You finally woke up..." She sighed relieved and walked besides Naruto's bunk, putting the tray on the nightstand. "You shouldn't sit up just yet so try to relax." She held her palm up to Naruto's forehead. "You still have a small fever..."She added and gently pushed Naruto back down.  
>"I feel fine, just a little headache." Naruto smiled reassuringly and tried to sit up again. "More importantly. What happened? How long have I been out, or rather where am I?" His eyes scanned the room, confused.<p>

"I said relax!" Sakura rolled her eyes, now forcing Naruto to lie down. "You are on board the ship, that's where you are. And what happened is that you got a small concussion from your little stupid stunt you performed yesterday-"

"YESTERDAY?" Naruto interrupted her, and sat up at lightning speed. He immediately regretted it because of the following stung in his brain, which Sakura's emerald eyes helped causing, stinging right through his skull. "...I'm sorry." He slowly laid back down.

"...Yes, since yesterday, as I was saying. And thanks again to your stupid behaviour, you forced the other team to take drastic measures. That is to say, to knock you out...Knocking you out right now, just to make you rest, doesn't seem such a bad idea..." Sakura grinned evilly and cracked her knuckles, making Naruto laugh nervously.

Just as Naruto thought Sakura was about to do something to him, Kakashi walked into the room. His usually lazy expression plastered on his face. "Aah Naruto, you're awake. You should really thank Sakura for that, for it was she who stayed up all night healing you." Although he was wearing a mask that hid most of his face, you could see a smile forming under it.

"You shouldn't really thank me, nor should you Kakashi in any way. If it were up to him, you would have been left there on the spot, still drooling and everything!" She turned to look accusingly at Kakashi, who was laughing neurotically in the corner. "Nonsense, the whole time you were healing him, I sent you mental support..."

Sighing heavily she continued. "Anyways, I still don't think it was me who healed him Kakashi-sensei. I'm telling you, it has something to do with those twins."

Naruto, who hadn't been listening with interest the whole time, suddenly got interested by the subject. "The girls! Where are they?"

"For the love of god! Either you will get another concussion because of yourself OR I WILL GIVE YOU ONE!" The pink haired girl stood up from her seat and toweredthreateningly over him, identical to Medusa's which gaze could turn you into stone. It worked very efficiently on Naruto, who immediately plopped back on his pillow.

Kakashi chuckled softly. "Heh, yes them. It seems they have grown quite fond of you, or at least interested by you. They would have stayed by your side the whole time if Sakura hadn't thrown them out to make them eat something." The silver haired man said, his one eye that was not hidden closed for a smile.

Naruto slowly sat up, and thus receiving a glare from Sakura, his mouth slightly open with shock. "The whole time? Why?"

Sakura blinked several times and furrowed her eyebrows before she answered. "Isn't it obvious? Clearly they consider you their rescuer, freeing them from their cages. Ren didn't need to lock them up after your speech, and obviously it's thanks to you..." As soon as she finished, Naruto's cheeks coloured faintly red as he smiled embarrassedly. "I wish I could say the same about the others..." Sakura mumbled to herself.

"Anyways, I brought you your lunch. You should try to eat some and rest..." Sakura smiled and handed Naruto the tray with a bread and a bowl of soup on.  
>"Aaah...Naruto hasn't had the delight opportunity to taste the food on this ship..." Kakashi said as he saw Naruto examining the funky looking soup, poking his spoon curiously at the big chunks in it. "...And for that I envy you Naruto. You see the cook that works on this ship doesn't have any tongue, and thus no taste buds, and THEREFORE does not have the slightest clue on how his meals taste like!" Kakashi finished, looking like he was about to cry, and stormed out of the room. Leaving Naruto looking frightened at the bowl of soup in front of him. "Yeah, like I said. Try to eat some..." Sakura laughed and left the room.<p>

"Oh, by the way!" Her head peeked inside the doorway. "I don't really expect you to follow my orders to rest, Mr. Number one knucklehead ninja! So when you go outside, try to befriend the others...Your first impression wasn't really the best one..." Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head as Sakura's head left the room.

-

It was a few hours later that Naruto couldn't stand it anymore to try to 'recover' when he seemed to feel fine and didn't need to 'recover' from anything. And plus the sun kept on teasing him to come out, Naruto thought to himself pleased with his excuse.

As Naruto stepped out of his little room he immediately felt the cool wind play against his skin, his golden locks slightly undulating in the breeze. He took a deep breath, taking in the fresh ocean air. The crystal blue ocean was truly beautiful and so serene that the ship barely rocked. And Naruto could feel his slight headache disappear. _'Hah! In your face, Sakura!'_

As he looked around him, amazed, something caught his eyes, something he had almost forgotten. There, sitting in a yoga position**,** on one of the large cratesnear the railingwith his back turned to him who had knocked him out just like that. Naruto balled his fists, his knuckles turning white. _'That asshole! Who sneaks behind someone's back and just does that?'_ Naruto gritted his teeth. Sighing he rolled his eyes. _'Befriend them she said...I guess it would make this mission a bit enjoyable...'_ He breathed out and started walking towards the boy, who reminded him so much of..._'Tsk, that teme...'_ Naruto looked down, narrowing his eyes because of that same cold feeling he always felt when remembering Sasuke.

Naruto walked up to the metal railing, resting his hands on it he stared for a while at the ocean before he took a deep breath and forced himself to smile. "Hello there! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya!" Naruto said cheerfully and looked up to the raven haired boy, who sat like a statue with his eyes closed like he was meditating. If it hadn't been for a slight change in his facial expression from serious to annoyed, Naruto had thought he was sleeping.

When it seemed like the boy wasn't about to respond in any way, Naruto continued a bit frustrated. "I know that maybe we got on the wrong foot first, but that was just a misunderstanding. So I'd like for us to start over and-"

"On my behalf it was no 'misunderstanding'." The raven haired boy interrupted calmly, his eyes still closed.

"Huh?" Naruto looked dumbfounded at him, surprised that he had spoken.

"I meant to knock you out the moment I saw your stupid face..." He continued and opened his eyes slightly to prove his point, like he had sensed Naruto's expression. "And that seemed to be the only way to shut you up..." He added and closed his eyes again.

Naruto could hardly believe his ears. _'The fuck is his problem?'_ He gawked and scrunched his nose, but quickly cleared his throat and tried to control himself, although his voice shook a little with annoyance. "Ahem, I understand that to start over again with things you need to say what has to be said and then move on! So as I was saying, I hope that we can be friends so this mission can be more successful and run smoothly. You know as they say, there is no I in TEAM!" Naruto grinned and tried to look friendly.

"And so are a lot more letters, but that doesn't mean I have to give a fuck about you..." The boy now opened his eyes and looked down at Naruto, smirking slightly with humour.

_'Those same pitch black eyes...'_ Naruto was about to explode, but he would not let that asshole win. "No it doesn't mean that, but for the sake of this mission you should at least try to not be so MEAN and to get along." Naruto tried to force a smile, but it ended up being totally creepy.  
>"Ah, but you see there is ME in MEAN so I guess I need to be mean." The boy's smirk widened as he saw Naruto's reaction.<em> 'He even has that same stuck-up-in-his-ass smirk as Sasuke that ticks me off!'<em>

"THAT'S IT! You can forget being friends with me, because I would never EVER be friends with assholes like you! YOU BIG TEME!" Naruto shouted whilst his hands flew around him, either pointing at the boy or punching up in the air furiously.

"Oh dear, oh no, what have I done to deserve that? Oh, please be friends with me..." He begged in a sarcastic tone, his face showing no emotions at all. To Naruto's extreme frustration. "Aha! Nope! This ship has sailed, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it Sas-"Naruto haltered, and clapped his hands in front of his mouth. He averted his eyes from the boy and stared at the ground. 'What is wrong with me? Why did I nearly call him that, and why do I care that he would hear it?' What Naruto didn't see that the boy had seemed for a moment to be struck before he had masked it with his usual expression.

"Asshole..." Naruto turned around and stormed away, the boy's eyes following after him.  
>"By the way, the name's Haku..." He called after Naruto, before positioning himself to his previous pose, feeling a little disturbed.<p>

-

Kakashi and Sakura were sitting in the kitchen talking together in hushed voices, while Rock Lee was on the floor doing push ups, when Naruto came nearly breaking down the door.

"Ah there you are Naruto. You are exactly the person we needed to talk with, but first. Is something wrong?" Kakashi asked the blond haired boy, who was breathing rapidly.

"Is something wrong? I'LL TELL YOU WHAT'S WRONG!" Naruto spat. "That damn obnoxious Sasuke-!" Naruto's eyes widened. "DAMN, I SAID IT AGAIN! I mean Haku! THAT ASSHOLE!"

Sakura turned from Naruto to look demanding at Kakashi. "SEE! I told you I wasn't the only one who noticed it!" She called and banged her fist viciously on the table.

"Sakura, I told you to drop it!" Kakashi mumbled angrily to her.

"Huh? The only one who noticed what?" Naruto immediately forgot his anger and rushed to sit beside Sakura by the table. She turned to look at Naruto, lowering her voice. "That that Haku fellow is suspiciously similar to Sasuke. And don't scold me for something you also suspected, Kakashi sensei!" She pointed accusingly at the older man, who leaned closer to them.

"Yes, I did suspect that it was Sasuke, using transformation jutsu. But that was before I used my sharingan. And I told you how that came out, the sharingan didn't detect any kind of jutsus! So it's impossible that it's him, so drop it!" Kakashi stood up from his chair and walked towards the door. "I don't want to hear anything more about this again. Now that Naruto is awake, Ren wants to explain further about this mission." He said and walked out of the room, leaving them in complete silence except for Rock Lee counting his push ups. "One thousand two hundred and twelve! One thousand two hundred and..."

Sakura sighed and reluctantly lifted herself up from the table. "Maybe I should drop it, but I'm still not convinced. There is something about that boy that I can't quite put my finger on..."

"But you heard Kakashi sensei, it's impossible to trick the sharingan..."

"Naruto, are you forgetting that Sasuke also has the sharingan. He has probably mastered it!" Sakura prompted and began walking back and forth. "But you are also right, the sharingan can detect any kinds of jutsus. But like I said, JUTSUS! There could be another way for him to disguise himself..." She stared distantly up at the ceiling.

"But why would he disguise himself so similar to his true appearances, when it would cause suspicion? And why in fact?" Naruto sceptically asked the smart girl. "I don't know, we will figure it out when Ren has done explaining where we are going and why..." She seemed to snap out of her thoughts, and looked concerned at Naruto.

"I'm sorry Naruto for bringing him up. Maybe I'm just imagining this because I miss him..." She looked sadly down on the floor, avoiding to make eye contact.  
>"Don't worry about me, I'm more worried about you." He stood up and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He knew that he himself truly missed their old team member, but Sakura had been in love with him. He couldn't imagine how it felt, because he had never felt like that before. <em>'Or maybe I have? Hmm how do you feel when you're in love?'<em> Naruto shook his head, like he was trying to rid himself of the thought.

"I'm sure we are just imagining this. You know, Sasuke isn't the only bastard alive on this planet..." He lifted up her chin and grinned, his warm blue eyes looked into hers.

"Naruto..."

"We should probably get going. The others must be waiting for us...Sooooo Bushy brows, you coming?"He turned around cheerfully, trying to lighten up the mood.

"ONE THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED!"The energetic boy sprung up on his feet with his eyes sparkling. "Most certainly, and we shall make this a race! The loser must swim alongside the boat the whole trip!" Rock Lee shouted with distant fires of glory behind him, and with that he sprinted out of the kitchen with Naruto yelling curse words after him for getting a head start.

"Yes, just my imagination..." Sakura giggled and walked cheerfully on her own pace after the two competitive boys.

-

Haku had been in deep thought when Ren had called his name to follow him. He stood up and jumped down the large crate, furrowing his eyebrows as Naruto and Rock Lee came sprinting past him. Receiving a funny look from Naruto he thought to himself. _'This is so bothersome, if they find out that I'm not really Haku, my mission will all be in vain...'_ A dark scowl formed on his face as he followed them down to the lower decks.

* * *

><p><em>OH MY GAAWD YOU DIDN'T SUSPECT THAT DID YOU? (ahem by the way, if it wasn't clear enough...Haku is in fact Sasuke! OMG I KNOW!)<em>

So explaining the story plot has taken a lot more time than I thought it would, but I promise that soon it will all become clear! So please review and tell me  
>what you think :)<p> 


	3. The mission

Woooooohoooo Chapter 3! I have completely given up on trying to make the chapters short, as you may see... FYRST AF ÖLLU! Vil ég þakka yndisfríða ritstjóra mínum ^^ fyrir að lesa yfir kaflana mína! Æ rööööööv júúúúú 3

**Disclaimers: **Well OBVIOUSLY I don't own the awesome Naruto etc...I am only here to dress up the characters in pink tutus and create the MOST SPLENDID BALLERINE SHOW YOU HAVE EVER SEEN! ...or was it something else...hm...

**Note: **If Sasuke seems strange or out of character, please bear in mind that he is trying his best to impersonate as someone else. Other than that, I try my best to make them as similar to their original characters as I can.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3- The mission<strong>

_(About a week earlier)_

"Is the potion ready?" A dark voice hissed before the door was fully swung open. The silver haired man was too used to it to be startled, so he continued mixing carefully all kinds of chemicals together.

"Not quite yet, Orochimaru-sama..." he regarded the older man, whose snake-like eyes were glowing with maliciousness. "Just a few drops of fish eyeball juice, heat it up and it's ready." He straightened himself and turned around to face the other man, smirking as he fixed his glasses.

"That's excellent. I was starting to worry that all our efforts would go in vain, Kabuto." Orochimaru returned the smirk, as his tongue darted in and out.

Kabuto's smirk faded hesitantly as he walked to the other side of the dark chamber, and began to light more candles. "About that, I can't help but doubt that HE is the right person for this mission..."

Orochimaru chuckled softly. "And why is that?"

"Well, for starters, the boy he is supposed to impersonate is known as cheerful, optimistic and social...Even though the potion can imitate exactly his appearances and chakra, if the personality isn't the same then you might as well forget the whole thing." Kabuto stared carefully over his glasses at the dangerous man in front of him, fearing if he would snap. Instead Orochimaru continued to chuckle.

"And what, my dear Kabuto, is bothering you about that?" He casually moved his long hairfrom his face.

"...Well...As you might have begun to know by now...My lord...Sasuke doesn't quite fit the description..."

Orochimaru's throaty laughter echoed throughout the chamber and down the long dark corridors. After awhile it turned into one of his terrible fits of coughing. "Orochimaru-sama, please, sit down." Kabuto helped the sick man to sit down at the nearest chair.

After recovering a little Orochimaru wheezed out. "Yes, our dear Sasuke is quite the charmer. But nonetheless, he is the only one who can do this. In order for the potion to really work, one must be used to the form the potion changes you into, which can take many weeks! We were lucky enough that the boy was so similar in appearances, the same height etc, but also in chakra type. You see, he also is a lightning and fire type. So he is perfect for this mission-" Kabuto made an attempt to interrupt him, but Orochimaru continued. "As for his personality, I've talked to Sasuke about that. If he on the other hand can't act cheerfully, which I am certain will be the case, the boy has a good reason to be so gloomy."

Orochimaru once more chuckled darkly, Kabuto smirked in response knowing exactly where he was going with this. "He recently lost his dear little sister in an...'accident'." The long haired man paused noticeably before the last word.

"Now, I will count on you to finish this before tomorrow." He stood up and began walking to the door, his long black hair flowing swiftly behind him.

"I will Orochimaru-sama, just one thing before you leave. What do you want me to do with that?" He gestured to the unconscious body in the corner.

"Heheh, please don't bother me with such obvious questions Kabuto." And with that the door closed after him, leaving the other man grinning mischievously "Medical experiments it is then..." His glasses reflecting candle lights brightly in the dark.

###

Orochimaru walked down the dark corridor, heading to the end of it where occasionally blue light flickered, followed by a chirp-like sound. Which the man knew exactly what caused it. 

"I see you are up and about, my dear Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru hissed seductively to the panting boy.

Sasuke turned around to glare at the older man, his sharingan glowing red in the dark hall which only a few torches illuminated. It revealed all the cracks and large holes in the walls and on the floor.

"Training, are we? Or are we just taking our frustrations out on our surroundings?" Orochimaru smirked.

"What do you want?" Sasuke retorted, shooting Orochimaru a deathly glare, indicating that he was not in the mood for chit-chat. Not that he ever was...  
>The long haired man chuckled maliciously. "Alright, I'll cut right to the case. I just came here to see whether you are ready for the mission tomorrow or not?"<p>

Sasuke nodded simply and made a hand sign which made dozens of mannequins form around him. "Even though you haven't told me much about it..."

"The only thing you need to know is your identity and who your targets are."

"Why?" Sasuke held out his right hand, his left squeezing tightly around it.

"Because it will help you gain the amount of power you need to defeat your brother, that's why." He replied and took a step backwards when Sasuke activated his Chidori as he mentioned his brother.

"My dear Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru cackled and stared at him with admiration, his yellow eyes sparkling by the blue lightings. "When it comes to your brother, you are not very patient. However you need to be on this mission, it is very important. You will not capture them until you have reached your destination, which is unknown to us. Until then, you will protect them." He combed through his black hair with his fingers and smirked.  
>"Why?" Sasuke once again heaved out, looking annoyed.<p>

"There is a reason for them taking those girls to this secret place, according to my sources it has something to do with their powers. Once they are there, something interesting will happen... On the way you will leave a trail of bread crumbs. And when you reach your destination, you will get your final instructions..." He smirked evilly and left the big hall, blue light flashing rapidly behind him and a sound like thousands of birds where wailing.

_(The present)_

"Haku? You all right?" Ren's voice snapped Sasuke back to reality.

He nodded and finished going down the last few steps, irritated as he felt five pairs of eyes watching him when he entered the orlop. Luckily he managed to mask his irritation, which one particular person seemed to cause. He looked up to see Naruto looking at him with an unreadable expression. But like always those blue eyes revealed everything like an open book, it was mainly because of them that Naruto had never managed to trick him when they were younger. '_So you suspect me, huh_?' He thought and turned to stand beside Ren, averting his eyes from Naruto's to Ren.

"Now that you are all finally here, I can explain this mission." Ren addressed everyone in the small room, Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, Rock Lee and Haku.

"Where are the others?" Kakashi asked, though with no interest what so ever.

"Watching over the girls, because they already know everything. Jeff...I have no idea." Ren laughed softly.  
><strong><br>**"Then what is HE doing here?" Naruto narrowed his eyes and cocked his head towards Haku.

Kakashi and Ren exchanged looks, feeling the tension in the room.

"He's here because I say so." Ren tried to smile, but when he saw Sakura's and Naruto's faces it faded away. Rubbing his temples he continued. "I know our first meeting wasn't the best one because of our little misunderstanding. But when I'm done explaining, I hope we can forget the whole thing and start over."

"Misunderstanding, hah!" Naruto mumbled under his breath, remembering his little chat with Haku earlier. Hearing Naruto, Haku fought the urge to smirk, but he behaved himself.

Kakashi elbowed Naruto when he seemed to be about to rant on.

"Questions are allowed after I have done explaining, until then...Please refrain from speaking." Even though Ren addressed them all, he pointed his words towards Naruto. Clearing his throat he continued, changing his tone to a much severe one. "It all began about six years ago, three years before Lord Fukaku's older brother's death, Kyo. And I guess for you to really understand the context, you need to know how he died.

Like I said earlier, it was about seven years ago when a young man who was traveling around the world, stumbled upon an island like none he had seen before. The islands natives welcomed him, for never before had an outsider stepped on this island. Maybe it was fate that brought Kyo there...For on the island he met a beautiful woman, princess Akame, who was dear to her people. He imediately fell in love with her. But she was the princess so from the beginning it was not meant to be, nevertheless she fell in love with him. And so they kept their love a secret...

Kyo stayed for a long time on the island but eventually had to go back home, not just because of his duties but also because of his men. They had families too. And so with a goodbye and a promise that he would return, he left the island. Up till now you have probably wondered how I know all of this. You see, I was the princess's personal advisor and I was sent with him. Albeit reluctantly because those past weeks there had been a strange aroma in the air, like a storm was brewing, I still went (_I went nonetheless_?). Because only a true native can find the island, it is not because we know the way, on the contrary, the island is never on the same location. No it is because somehow we sense it. So we went, my cover was to study the outside world, neither of us knew that the princess was pregnant-"

Naruto took a loud gasp before exclaiming "OH MY GOD, AND THOSE GIRLS ARE THEIR DAUGHTERS!" And thus he received depressed looks from everyone, except from Rock Lee. "You truly are my rival, Naruto-kun! Because not only are you strong, but also smart!"

Sakura, sensing that they were not about to stop any time soon, banged their heads together. "Please go on." She smiled innocently at the confused Ren.

"Ah- yeah! Two years passed and the young lord grew more frustrated with each day, not seeing or hearing from his love. Not a word...until that night.  
>We were taking a walk in the palace garden when we saw someone by the gate. We went to check out the suspicious looking man, wearing a cloak.<br>**  
><strong>_"Are you lord Fukaku?" A hoarse voice spoke under the dark cloak._

"That I am...who is it that asks?" Kyo replied suspiciously, ready to call the guards that this man had somehow managed to get past.

"It does not matter who I am, I was paid to bring the young lord this letter." A weathered old hand reached towards them from under the long black sleeves, in it a small letter with his name written on the front in Akame's handwriting. Seeing it, Kyo snatched the letter from him and rushed to open it up. Meanwhile the mysterious cloaked man disappeared into the night.

"What is it?" I asked worried when I saw his torn expression. Something was wrong...

Kyo finished reading it and began to shake, dropping the letter. I picked the crumbled and dirty letter up and began reading it, although that part was rather difficult because the letters were all smudged because of some bloodstains.

_'You are the only one I trust for this because I fear for my life__and theirs. Please do not come for me. –Love, Akame.'_

_Kyo wanted to immediately set sails and go after her, but I knew I had to respect the princess's wishes. I called the guards to escort him to his room, while I stayed behind, examining the letter to be sure it was truly from the princess. And it was, but there was nothing I could do now, was it? I decided that I would sleep on it, but when I was about to head back to the palace I heard a sob. A weak sob at first but then it turned into a baby's cry. It seemed to have woken another baby up, because not a second after the first cry, another one was heard. I walked to the gate to inspect it, and behind the gate I found two baskets. Each basked with a little baby girl inside..."__**  
><strong>_**  
><strong>They didn't know whether he had finished or not, because he suddenly stopped and looked distant.

After a while Sakura broke the silence and asked Ren what seemed to be on everyone's lips. "So what happened to Kyo-san?" She asked hesitantly.

Ren took a deep breath. "He snuck out that same night on one of his ships with a few men before I could show him his two new daughters. And a few months later we found his ship stranded near the shores of the country of Water, and his body along with the whole crew...all dead..."

Sakura gulped loudly "That's so sad..."

"But I don't get it...what does that have to do with our mission?" Naruto scratched his head and stared confused at Ren. Ren's eyes twitched. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying to prevent his smile to falter into a scowl.

Sakura smacked the back of Naruto's head with her monstrous strength. "What do you mean 'WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH OUR MISSION'? Weren't you listening?" She cracked her knuckles over the blond haired boy lying on the floor. "Waaaah Sakura-chan...I'm still recovering..."

"I don't think it has anything to do with his lack of attention, but with his tiny little brain not comprehending the information..." Haku mostly said to himself, but loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"TEME! What I MEANT was I assume we are heading to that island, in what purpose exactly?" Naruto snapped, red veins forming in his eyes.

"Ah, yes I guess that I forgot to tell you about that. You see, at the age of four the girls began to show outstanding skills in performing ninjutsus...somehow they had learned it on their own. Because never before had we taught them how to perform them, nor what ninjutsus were for that matter."

"Four years old...remarkable." Kakashi exclaimed.

"That's not the only remarkable thing about them. As it is now, their chakra level is equal to yours, Kakashi, and mine if not more...Imagine how much their chakra level can grow as they get older." Ren spoke half serious, half astonished. "That brings us to why we need to go to the island. Right after we had found them that night we examined their conditions, their health etc, and we found out that their chakra was being suppressed. I don't know whether Akame herself did it or not, but we chose to ignore it at first because it didn't cause any problems. But as they grew, so did their chakra, it became quite difficult for them to control their powers. And so I tried to break the seal that was suppressing their chakra, but my every attempt to do so failed."

"So you are afraid that something bad will happen if it continues like this, thus you are bringing them to a safer place?" The tall white haired man straightened himself, finally this conversation was leading somewhere.

Ren opened his mouth but nothing came out of it, as if he was searching for the right words. "Not exactly...Something bad has already happened, but that is not the entire reason why we are going." Ren held one finger up. "The first reason, as you said, is to hide them in a safer place. Mainly because there are many bad people in this world that are after their powers...I do not know how people found out about them, especially because we never let them go outside, but recently we have been targeted by many ninjas that are after them." Two fingers up. "The second is because I believe there is a scroll somewhere on the island, with instructions how to break the seal. And the third..." He held three fingers up, letting his hand fall to his side almost at the same time. Sighing and smiling embarrassedly he continued. "...Is because, well to be honest...I'm a little homesick. I haven't had a good night's sleep in six years, wondering and worrying sick about whether my people are all alive or all dead..."

Ren received sympathetic looks from almost everyone in the room. "No need to be embarrassed about being homesick, we understand that. But what about princess Akame's wishes, about you not coming after her? Aren't you worried that there is a reason for it? Like you said earlier, before you left the island you had a bad feeling something was going to happen." Kakashi asked.

"Why do you think Kyo's brother asked the hokage for reinforcements, who she trusted, to tag along?" Ren arched his eyebrows.

"To march on ahead to the unknown. Oh, what joy!" Rock Lee sighed. Most people would think that this was sarcasm, but knowing Rock Lee, that word did not exist in his vocabulary. But as Rock Lee was bouncing around, shaking Naruto enthusiastically, a smoke began leaking inside the room from under the door.

"What is that?" Sakura swung up from her pocket a kunai as she held her breath.

Rock Lee sniffed. "Oh, relax. It's only a smoke bomb and judging by the smell, it also seems to be a sleeping-"Suddenly the usually energetic boy fell unconscious on the ground, snoring loudly. Before Rock Lee had touched the ground, the others had reached the main deck within a blink of an eye. Ren, followed by Kakashi and Sakura, ran to the galley where the source of the smoke seemed to be coming from. There they made out three figures lying either on the floor or on the tables, Shizuka, Yuki and Sora.

"Damn! I knew they wouldn't be obedient for long..." Ren mumbled under his sleeve, that was covering his nose and mouth.

"What is going on, Ren?" Kakashi spoke, blinking rapidly as his eyes began to sting.

"The girls..."

#

When they had reached the main deck, Naruto had seen Haku turn left, whereas the others had turned right. So he had decided to follow Haku instead of the others, not completely trusting that boy. 'What are you up to, teme?'

Running at a full speed he couldn't stop himself in time when the raven-haired boy, without warning, halted, and thus crashed into him.  
>"DOBE, what are you doing!" Haku growled at the blond.<p>

"Me? What are YOU doing, just stopping like that- wait, what did you call me?" Naruto's eyes widened.

'_Damn it_!' Haku cursed himself for the slip up. '_Why did I have do add to his suspicion by calling him by the name I used to call him..._' He tried to mask his irritation with enthusiasm and surprise, it didn't quite work. "Look! Over there on one of the lifeboats." Haku pointed towards the sea, and there he saw the two girls, about forty metres away from them.

Without hesitation Naruto jumped over the railings and landed on top of the water, and began to run towards the lifeboat. Haku right behind him. '_That was close, I'm lucky Naruto is so easily distracted..._' Sasuke thought to himself as his emotionless expression once again masked his face.

###

Meanwhile on the lifeboat.

"Come on, row! Atta girl!" the black haired girl sang out the orders to her sister.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" She replied sceptically as she kept on rowing and rowing.

"Don't be so naive. You don't really think that they are taking us to a better place?" The black-haired one retorted. "Hah! It will just end like everything else. Us, in a prison somewhere. No matter what they call it or how they decorate it, say it's for our own safety...it's always the same." She added bitterly through her teeth.

"I also long to explore the world, but Ren has always been kind to us. I think we should trust him on this." The white haired one said. "Huh? What's wrong?" She added as she saw the shocked expression on her sister.

"...He's running on water..." The black haired one answered, unsure whether to believe it or not. "OH SHIT! HE IS RUNNING ON THE WATER, AND HEADING THIS WAY!" She shouted and pointed at the angry looking blond who was drawing closer. She stood up, shouting at her sister to keep on rowing, as she lifted up her hand towards Naruto. Almost immediately the water began to run up Naruto's leg, like two hands, and holding him in place.

Naruto cursed and tried to free himself from the water that was slowly pulling him deeper and deeper. His cursing worsened as Haku jumped easily over him and continued to pursue the girls.

"YIN, what are you doing?" The white haired one called to her sister, seeing what she was doing to Naruto. "I thought you liked him!"

"Relax, I'm not going to drown him." She answered, grunting as she tried to catch Haku with her water hands. "And I never said I liked him! I just said he was not like the others!"

Haku took up from his pocket a thin, long wire, each end tied to a shuriken. He threw them forward, the two shurikens circled around Yin, tying her down she fell in the boat. Her water hands disappearing instantly. The white haired one wasn't quite sure what to do. She wanted to go back to Ren, but she didn't want to leave her sister. But it was too late now, because Haku had reached the boat, glaring down at them. Not much later, Naruto caught up to them, panting slightly.

"Well ladies...what seems to be the problem?" Naruto sighed, like he was their mother and they had just done something bad. The white haired girl bit her lip nervously. "What are you going to do with us?" She almost stammered, not daring to look at the two teenagers towering over her.

Naruto blinked several times, confused. "...Do with you? Bring you back to the ship...?" He chuckled, Haku fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

"That is all? Aren't you mad?" It was her turn to be confused now. She looked up as Naruto began laughing sincerely, the sun behind him brightened up his already golden hair.

"Mad about what? About that little prank you just did? Pfff, what else do you expect from kids?" Placing one foot on the lifeboat, he smiled at her."Although now was not exactly the best of neither time nor place to prank, but who am I to preach? When I was younger I used to pull pranks on everyone, even the hokage!" His smile turned into a smugly grin and leaned closer to her. "And between you and me...I'm still at it!" He winked. The white haired girl giggled and looked into his pure blue eyes, almost immediately she felt she could trust that odd boy with those strange scars on his cheeks. "My name is Yang." She smiled shyly, receiving a big one from Naruto. "I'm Naruto!"

"Will you BLOODY untie me?" The black haired girl snarled.

"And this is my lovely sister, Yin."

"Nice to meet you." Naruto chuckled and turned around to face Haku. "OK, you may untie her now."

"Oh, may I? Well thank you..." Haku glared back, not moving an inch.

"It's alright now, they won't try to escape."

"How do you know? Just because you came capturing them, all dazzling and positive?" Haku sarcastically retorted back. '_You can't always force some people to go with you just because of that, Naruto..._' Sasuke thought grimly to himself. He took up from his pocket another wire, his intention to tie the other sister up. But Naruto stepped in front of him, his good mood dropping. "Do you always have to be such an ass? Why won't you just untie her?" Naruto nearly growled.

"I will, when we have returned to the ship..." Haku growled back. '_I wonder, Naruto. Would you act the same, if you knew who I truly was?_'

"And I'm telling you that I trust them! So untie them!" Naruto nearly yelled.

But just as a heated argument was about to begin, they were interrupted by a sudden shock wave disturbing the peaceful ocean, rocking the boat violently.

"What was that?" Naruto asked, feeling uneasy.

"Untie me..." Yin whispered frightened, almost inaudibly.

"I saw no sign of explosions that could have caused that..." Naruto spoke again, looking at Haku for answers. But Haku just stood there, scanning the ocean.

"Please untie me..." Yin said, a little bit louder now.

Haku jumped over the boat, landing, he drew up his sword from the sheath. "There!" He stared intensively at the surface of the ocean about fifty metres away from them. And as soon as he had said it, a bulge of water began forming. One big bulge, rising higher and higher.

Yang sat frozen, staring terrified at the bulge. With good reason to. As soon as the water exploded away from whatever thing that was under it, it revealed exactly whatever thing that was under it.

"Holy shiiiiiiiii-" Naruto gasped as a shiny figure rose up from the surface, dripping wet, made of some sort of strange metal. Never before had they seen anything like this before. It looked like some sort of cyborg, a machine mostly but somehow there was something human about it. Neither in appearance nor behaviour, but still...

The body was almost identical to the colour of the ocean, but it changed as it rose higher, changing to the colour of the sky apart from some strange red circles around where the navel and the heart would be on a person. The body itself floated a couple of centimetres above the ground, dragging two long steel arms after it, each arm with four sharp knifes at the end. Probably the most interesting thing about this 'machine' was the stitches across its chest, where you could hear a heart pumping loudly, and around the eyes. Two huge eyes, filled with many little red veins, staring murderously at them with streams of blood streaming down them.

"What IS that?" Naruto called out, not asking anyone particular. They didn't know the machine had a mouth until the stitches around it unfolded and it opened its huge mouth, revealing thousands of sharp teeth.

"Naruto..." Haku glanced back at him. "Take the girls, I'll take care of this thing..." He calmly ordered, moving into an attack position while Naruto took Yang into his arms.

The machine took a loud sharp inhale, before screeching out in an almost deafening tone. Yang snapping back to reality, held around her ears, desperately trying to block the noise.

"UNTIE ME NOW!" Yin barely managed to scream over the screeching as a light began to form from the machine's mouth, blinding everything that was in front of it.

"NARUTO!" was the only thing Naruto heard before the huge explosion.

* * *

><p><em>Yeah, I like big cliffhangers and I cannot lie! You other brothers can't deny...<em>  
><em>Finally some action into this, as well the background story has mostly been taken cared of. And I am well aware of one of the categories, this story is supposed to be about, that is to say "romance". Up till now there hasn't been...ANY romance in this story...But it's all Sasuke's fault! We all know he is quite the loverboy, spreading love and joy thoughout the world! (sarcasm) Thus it is quite hard to deal with that dramaqueen, but I promise you that there will be romance in this story :) whether Sasuke likes it or not...<em>  
><em>Anyways, thanks for reading and please review ^-^ <em>


	4. Feelings boiling under the surface

JEI CHAPTER 4! For some reason this one was really hard to write and took me a long time to write...ANYWHOOOO on with the show!  
><strong><br>Disclaimers:**Well I think that we have come to the conclusion that OBVIOUSLY I do not own the characters etc...Naruto... But that doesn't mean that I can't steal them to aid my achieve of taking over the world! MÚHAHAHAHA *thunders*

* * *

><p>Chapter 4- Feelings boiling under the surface<p>

"Naruto..." The boy heard his name called from a distant, echoing all around him. _'Why...'_ He opened his eyes, destroyed landscape all around him, the wind roaring past his ears. And up on a high rock in front of him, stood a person. "Naruto!" _'Why am I here again...in this place?'_Naruto thought to himself, not wanting to look at the person calling him. But knowing he had to, whether he liked it or not, he slowly looked up at the other boy.

"Why do you go so far for me?" The boy's cold, doubtful voice sent shivers down his spine. Meeting the other boy's stare, those red eyes, Naruto replied with a clear voice. "Because you are my friend!"

"NARUTO!"

_'Sasuke...'_

####

Naruto snapped his eyes wide open to find himself not in the Valley of the end, instead floating in the ocean, in the middle of nowhere. Haku, standing a few meters away, looked puzzled at him.

_'Did I just say that aloud?'_ Naruto stood up, feeling dizzy. _'What just happened?'_

"Naruto? Are you alright?" Yang called, swimming a couple of metres away from him**. **Yin**, **swimming next to her, coughed up water. "You idiot! Why did you do that? Just because you consider us friends?" Yin spat between coughing.

_'Crap...I said that out loud'_Gaining his balance, he remembered now that he had tried to stop the laser thingy beam, that machine was about to produce, with his Rasengan. The risk had been too big if he had dodged it with the girls, the ship behind them would have been damaged. So he had created two shadow clones and performed the Rasengan, while he himself had run away with the girls. And of course when the Rasengan met the laser thingy beam it resulted in a big explosion, throwing everything near it away.

"I told you to take the girls with you! It's them it is after!" Haku glared at Naruto, somehow he was really annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah I got it!" The blond mumbled, not taking his eyes of the twitching machine, and to Naruto's great surprise, was unharmed. But whether the machine sensed it or could understand what they were planning, it flew at a lighting speed towards Naruto with its long arms and knife fingers reaching forward. Before Naruto could blink or do anything to defend himself, the sound of metal hitting metal clanged next to Naruto's right ear. On his left he could feel Haku's hot breath tingling against his skin, and to his surprise he could feel his cheeks growing hotter. '_...The fuck?'_  
>"Dobe, I told you to go..." Haku growled through his teeth.<p>

"Teme..." Was the only thing Naruto could say, too upset to notice that Haku had called him by his nickname that his former team member had called him.  
>Something inside Naruto just clicked and felt this same familiar feeling he had always felt a few years ago. "Teme, I can handle this!" Naruto said, and before Haku even knew what was happening the fierce blond had made a shadow clone and was performing the jutsu, which that boy was becoming more and more infamous for.<p>

There it was, growing bigger and bigger in his hand, the blue spiral chakra sphere, the Rasengan. The machine screeched loudly as Naruto thrust the Rasengan into it, sending it flying high up into the air. Finally, it plunged deep down into the ocean.

Naruto glanced back over his shoulder at Haku, grinning with victory. "So, be a doll and take the girls to safety. I will take care of this." But Haku stood his ground and sent Naruto a deathly glare.

"You did not take care of it! If anything, you made it angrier…A quality which seems to fit you quite perfectly." Haku added, as large waves began forming on the surface of the ocean around them. A strange noise was heard beneath them, like a whale, making the ocean vibrate.

"If I were you, I would hurry and take the girls to safety." It wasn't a suggestion from Haku.

Naruto knew he was acting like a moron, but he didn't know exactly why he was being so stubborn and not just do what he was supposed to do. There was something about that boy that made him tick... Like he just had to prove something to Haku, similar to two alpha males fighting over who was the true leader. "You go do that!" Naruto retorted.

"I told you I would handle this, you go take them to safety!" Haku spat.

"NO! I told YOU I would take care of this-!"

"Girls, girls! You are both pretty! While you two bicker, me and my sister will just swim here unprotected!" Yin called angrily, groaning with irritation as she only managed to catch their attention for only a minute.

The two mature boys tried to stare each other down, until Haku broke their eye contact. "Look weren't you the one who said you would protect them with your life?" He scoffed.

"That is what I'm trying to do! I'll fight that machine while you-!" Naruto didn't manage to finish his sentence, as the machine flew up from the sea using its arms as wings. In midair it opened its mouth and spewed blue flames out of it, the two shocked boys watched as the flames surrounded the two girls and completely consumed them.

Haku shot Naruto a look that showed he truly despised him before he pulled a long wire out of his pocket. Tying it to a shuriken he threw it towards the machine.

The machine was too occupied to notice the shuriken circle around it. Haku pulled the other end of the wire, and it immediately tightened around its neck, and threw the machine back into the ocean.

Naruto seemed to snap back to reality, watching terrified into the blue flames. "The girls-"He shouted as the flames ceased and Yuki appeared, holding out her hands as she formed a barrier around her and the girls. Her expression showed concentration and true fury. And behind her stood Kakashi, judging by his expression he too did not seem to be happy at all. Whether it was because of Naruto's and Haku's fight or the machine showing up, he did not know. It certainly could be because of both...

"Naruto!" Kakashi called angrily.

'_Ah, it seems that at least it's because of me..._' Naruto gulped as he looked at the older man.

"What do you think you are doing?" The silver-haired man shouted.

Naruto honestly had no good explanation for Kakashi, it was even hard for him to understand why he was acting like this. Angry at himself he chewed on his lip as Kakashi ran up to him.

"I don't know what you were thinking earlier-" He began.

"But Haku-" Naruto started, trying to excuse his behaviour earlier even though he knew that it was all his fault for not follow Haku's instructions in the first place.

"No buts! I don't want to hear about it, what I want you to do now is take down that machine like you seemed so desperately eager earlier." Kakashi ordered him.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei..." Glancing back he saw Haku jumping in the air, the wire in his mouth, as he formed a hand sign. Naruto's eyes widened.  
>'<em>It can't be!<em>' Naruto thought to himself.

"GREAT FIREBALL TECNIQUE!" _(KATON GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU)_ Haku shouted before he spewed fire out of his mouth, the wire caught on fire and burned down along it. The machine shrieked almost like a human as the fire reached the other end of the wire, burning it. Kakashi ran to assist Haku, but Naruto was too caught by surprise. '_Sasuke was used to perform that jutsu! This is too coincidental to be true, isn't it? But Kakashi's sharingan-AGH!'_

A knock on his head snapped Naruto back out of his thoughts. But to his surprise it hadn't been Sakura who had hit him, like usual. Instead it had been Shizuka.

"Idiot! Help us!" She shouted as she kept on running towards the machine, Ren not far ahead of her.

Naruto bawled his hands into fists angrily. He felt like it was back when he was younger all over again, when he always seemed to be a burden for everyone and getting in the way. Meanwhile Sasuke had always been the hero. Naruto growled and dashed forward, holding up his fist as the machine tried to get past him in attempt to catch the girls. Instead Naruto's fist plunged into its head all the way through it, wires burning his skin.  
>Although Naruto had managed to take the head off the machine, its body kept on moving like nothing had happened. And it seemed to be even angrier than it was before.<p>

Naruto stared at his fist,startled. It was covered in blood. But it wasn't HIS blood.

'_What kind of a machine bleeds?_'

####

Rock Lee gained consciousness with a slight headache and feeling like the room was spinning, additionally it seemed like someone was calling him from a great distance. After a minute or two he managed to get back on his feet as he regained back his senses.

"Dude, I asked'ya what you're doin'?" A voice that would make you lose your intelligence, said behind him.

"Wha-?" Rock Lee turned around, furrowing his gigantic eyebrows. It was a small man, covered in oil stains along with other kinds of stains all around his clothes and body. He had a ruffled brown hair with bushy sideburns. The energetic teenager had never seen him before, and assumed he had something to do with the smoke bomb.

Jumping into a defence position and roaring out a battle cry he prepared himself for the worst.

"Calm down man…Me names is Jeff, I take care of dis baby, dis ship I mean…" Jeff held up his hands. "What is your business down'ere boy, when all da fight is outside?" He asked nonchalantly, scratching his scruffy stubbles.

Rock Lee's already round and big eyes became even more so. "WHAT?" He yelled, his eyes showing despair. "My teammates are out there on the battlefield putting their lives in danger, while I'm here sleeping? This I will not tolerate! Youth will not prevail!" The passionate boy snorted angrily. Jeff, all the while, watching him amused.

"I will not disappoint you!" He roared before heading up the stairs.

"Wait'ere just a sec boy…Kinda pointless you going'ere, cuz da fight is over…" Jeff held back his laughter seeing Rock Lee's disappointed expression.

"Really?" Rock Lee looked distressed.

The door swung open, the whole exhausted bunch entering in a hurry and nearly trampled over Rock Lee. The said one immediately getting over his depression and back to his usual self as he saw Naruto, Haku, Ren and Kakashi hold a large metal pile, leaving a blood trail behind them, wait…that was bleeding? Rock Lee gasped with excitement.

"What is that?" He asked.

"That is what we want to know…" Shizuka sighed tiredly, slumping down against the wall. Ren glanced back at her. "Haku, take Shizuka to Sakura and help her treat the poison." He commanded seriously, turning his attention on the machine. Haku left, although like he dreaded it, supporting Shizuka. "If the machine's claws in anyway injured you, I suggest you go with him…"

"No we are fine." Kakashi replied. "Is there any need for us to be here, or are WE excused?" The silver haired man asked, looking into Ren's eyes like he was implying something that they had already discussed before.

Ren nodded in understanding, knowing what he meant. "No you may leave, me and Jeff can examine the machine…"

Kakashi began walking up the stairs. "Naruto, come with me…" His tone indicated that he was not happy, at all.

Naruto's heart began beating faster, he knew he was in a pinch.

####

"What were you thinking?" Kakashi reprimanded him when they entered another room.

"I don't know..." Naruto answered remorsefully, chewing nervously on his lip. When that answer did not seem to satisfy Kakashi, he continued. "It wasn't MY fault, Haku-"

"Not again with this Haku nonsense! Like I said, Haku is not Sasuke!" Kakashi raised his voice.

Naruto still had doubts but answered Kakashi anyways in order to calm his teacher down. "I know, I know he isn't, but Kakashi he is just like-!" Kakashi's scowl cut him off. He didn't see it directly, but there it was under his mask.

"Then stop acting like he is, you would think you haven't changed a bit since you were twelve!" Kakashi sighed angrily and rubbed his forehead. "Honestly, what if Yuki and I would not have been in time to save them from the fire? Huh, Naruto? They would have been dead by now, because of your foolish behaviour!" Kakashi's expression was rock hard, Naruto was not able to keep eye contact with him in shame.

"I know all that, Kakashi-sensei! But why am I the only one who you are yelling at, why don't you yell at Haku too?" The instant the words were out of his mouth, he immediately wanted to reclaim them as he saw the fury growing on Kakashi's expression.

"Because I AM YOUR teacher, Naruto! I take responsibility for YOUR actions! Ren takes Haku's!" The silver-haired man finally snapped, followed by an overwhelming silence on Naruto's behalf. Finally Kakashi continued. "With that in mind, I hope from now on you'll carry out this mission as Tsunade-sama trusted you to..." Storming out, he left Naruto alone with his troubling thoughts.

Naruto pulled on his hair. '_What a mess!_' he groaned and let himself fall down on the bunk behind him. He stared with empty eyes up at the ceiling, albeit his head was swarming with thoughts, all relevant to Sasuke and Haku. He didn't know how long he had been lying there, but judging by how the sun had descended, it had been at least a couple of hours.

Suddenly he decided to pull himself together and he jumped on his feet. '_I must stop acting like a baby and start taking this mission seriously, no distractions allowed!_' He shook his head, as if he was shaking his suspicions out of his head. '_There is no way that it's him…If Ren and the others trust him, there is no reason for me to question it!_'

The determined boy marched out of the dark room and out into the fresh air where the sun was setting, colouring the sky orange. He breathed in, listening to the sea as the waves crashed against the ship, that was going full speed ahead…and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on…It sounded like someone was gargling. '_Whaaaa…?_' He ran and looked down over the railing and there he saw him.

"Bushybrows! What are you doing?" Naruto yelled in surprise at Rock Lee, who was swimming alongside the boat, looking like he would pass out any minute now.

The only answer he got was a gargle, as Rock Lee swallowed tons of water.

"Don't tell me you have been there the whole time?"Naruto asked, nearly punching himself afterwards when he received the same noise for an answer. '_Why did I think I would get an answer now, when I didn't the first time 'round?_'

"That's it!" Naruto exclaimed, before yanking Rock Lee up on his suit's collar, into the ship. Rock Lee immediately collapsed on the ship's floor.

"...What were you doing?" Naruto asked in between his laughter, seeing Rock Lee wheezing and gasping for air.

"...the...BET..." He coughed up.

"Wait, you are telling me that you have been swimming along with the ship for hours just because I won you in our race?" The blond nearly burst out with laughter when Rock Lee gave a noise from him that sounded like an agreement and nodded his head violently.

Naruto kept on laughing even though it hadn't been THAT funny, it just felt good. He felt like it had been so long since he laughed, so much so, that he didn't want to stop. Soon enough Rock Lee joined in when he had caught his breath, it was that contagious.

Suddenly Naruto felt like they were being watched, turning around he saw Sakura and the twins. He grinned at Sakura, who was sighing and shaking her head, Yin, who was trying her best to repress a smile, and Yang, who was giggling happily.

'_Woah, I thought that they'd be pissed at me for my behaviour earlier..._' He thought to himself.

When he scoped the place better he saw someone behind them. To his surprise it was Haku, standing and staring at him with those eyes of his...his expression unreadable but somewhat...cool and familiar. Naruto's heart skipped a beat and he caught himself blushing a little. _'What the-? I told you brain, it's not Sasuke!-_' Naruto's eyes widened in shock. '_WHAT? And even if it were...! It wouldn't change a thing!- Agh , I'm so confused..._' He glanced back up at Haku, in time to see a hint of a smile fade away as the raven-haired boy turned around back into the galley. Naruto frowned as his blush deepened.

The girls walked up to Naruto, and the boy saw it on the twins' faces that they were dying to ask him something. His frown was quickly replaced with his usual grin.

"What's up?" He asked casually.

Yin nudged Yang, clearly they had been talking about this before they came. Yang asked shyly in a low voice. "Uhm...could you teach us that trick?"

Naruto looked dumbfounded. "What trick?"

"Oh for god's sake! How do you walk on water?" Yin snapped. Naruto, getting used to Yin's hot temper, laughed softly. "That's all?" He asked. The twins looking expectantly at him.

"Well it takes YEARS to practise that! And initially you need to practise climbing trees without using your hands!" Naruto looked pleased as he saw the interest grow on the twins' faces, looking at him like he was a god.

"Pfft, it isn't that hard. Maybe for idiots like you, but for me it took just a second!" Sakura puffed, brushing her hair away from her eyes. Trying to look casual, but you could tell she was bragging. The twins' interests immediately moved from Naruto to Sakura.

"Sakura-chaaaaaaan..." Naruto pouted.

"But it will be quite difficult to teach you when the ship is sailing so fast..." Sakura explained, the girls' mood immediately dropping.

"But couldn't we practice it inside of this ship?" Yang asked, hope in her voice.

Sakura laughed. "Sure! Follow me then." Yang immediately began to run after her.

As Yin began to walk lazily after them, Naruto walked by her side, guilt beginning to dwell up inside his chest.

"What is it?" Yin asked nonchalantly, still looking straight ahead. The blond wasn't prepared for the question and only managed to stammer like an idiot. "Eh, w-wha-what do you mean?"

"It's OK, we don't hold it against you...or more so, SHE doesn't hold it against you." Yin sighed, watching her sister concentrate on her chakra flow.

"Huh, why?" Naruto asked sceptically, he knew what he had done was stupid and wrong so he couldn't understand it.

The black haired girl scoffed. "It's complicated. To put it simply, she attracts "good" people and good people are attracted to her."

"Huh? What does that mean and what does that have to do with anything?"

Yin halted to look at Naruto, throwing her arms up in desperation."AGH, IDIOT! She just senses these kinds of things, like a sixth sense or something! She could sense that something was troubling you back there and it was somewhat important to you...or whatever!" She trailed off in a mumble of curses, picking up her speed.

Naruto followed her, his blue eyes looking shamefully away from her. "But that still doesn't excuse my actions..."

"No it doesn't..." Yin grinned, eyeing Naruto. "But you look like you feel sincerely bad about it, and as long as it doesn't happen again, we will forgive you..."  
>Giving him some sort of a smile, Naruto's mood immediately lifted. "I promise." He smiled back. "That's my promise!"<p>

"whatever..." She rolled her eyes. '_There is something about this boy, something similar to my sister..._'

####

Sasuke watched out of the small window in the galley, watching as Naruto insisted to Sakura that he should show the girls how to do things. His usual big smile on his face, the girls' having a blast.

'_...Everyone is so quick to forgive him, it's annoying._' Sasuke scowled, his black eyes narrowing. '_...Always making you do reckless things, that idiot..._' He averted his eyes down at the table, a strange feeling forming inside of him. It wasn't strong, but enough to startle the young Uchiha.

"Is everything alright, Haku?" Ren suddenly disturbed him from his thoughts. Sasuke, annoyed for not noticing his presence but yet relieved that he didn't have time to analyse that strange feeling.

"Yeah..." He breathed out.

Ren didn't look convinced, nor had that answer been convincing. "You know, if there is something wrong, you can tell me..." Ren came forward, eyeing the seat next to Sasuke for invitation.

The boy didn't really want to talk to him, but in the sake of this mission and preventing him from being alone with his thoughts for a moment, he nodded in approval.

"I know this has been a tough month for you, but this mission is really important..." Ren spoke hesitantly, watching Haku's face carefully.

'_Agh, here it comes.._.' Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes.

"Therefore it is really important that we all get along..." Ren continued, Haku's jaw tightening. "...So far you have done well in fighting and getting along with the others...But with Naruto there seems that you have made an exception." Ren tried to capture Haku's eyes, failing as the boy kept on glaring down at the table. "I only ask of you to befriend Naruto..."

Sasuke felt something snap inside of him. '_I don't want to be his friend! Nor anyone's!_' Haku stood up, and Ren knew immediately that he shouldn't continue.  
>'<em>You can't force me to rebuild a bond which I have skewered and have no intention of rebuilding anyway!<em>'

Haku stormed out of the galley, walking into Naruto as he opened the door. The blond was still chuckling and his blue bright eyes gleamed with joy.

"Ah, sorry!" Naruto laughed, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "But now that you are here, I have thought that we should maybe forget our first and second impressions and start over. What do you say? Friends?" Naruto smiled, offering his hand as a peace offering.

Sasuke's startled expression was replaced by a much severe one. '_Stupid Naruto..._' He glared scornfully at Naruto, pushing him away as he stormed to his room. '_You of all people can't do that!_'

Naruto gawked after him, nearly bursting out in anger. '_That teme did it again!_' Clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white. He was about to go after him, sensing it, Kakashi appeared in front of Naruto. His one eye scrutinising him. "OH COME ON! That was NOT my fault!" Naruto shouted in defence.

####

The hunched man stumbled in the dimly lit room as he made his way to the other end. Shivering with fright, he prepared himself to give his master the bad news.

"Master..." His tiny voice echoed in the large empty room.

Glowing yellow eyes opened in the shadows, and a deep powerful voice responded. "What is it, minion? Just by sending YOU, tells me that you do not have anything good to tell me..."

The small man trembled and fell on his knees. "Master, the machine failed! It didn't manage to capture the girls!" The silence that followed afterwards nearly killed him. "I'm sorry!" He cried out.

"Nitwit! If that was my intention, I would have sent more than just one!" He roared before laughing hysterically. "I just wanted to see how strong our opponents are, testing how they would do against one machine." His big manly hand reached out from the darkness. "So hand me the disc!" The dim light revealed his large muscular body and half of his face. "No, just you wait minion. There is a lot more yet to come..." His sick mischievous smirk deformed his face, a manic glare in his eyes.

* * *

><p><em>So it seems that finally our boys have subconsciously developed some feelings, that isn't hate, for each other. *evil cackle*<em>  
><em> Oh and someone asked me to define "romance" ...well you will just have to find out yourself : D ...Alright alright I haven't really decided but there is a chance for smut, but like I said I haven't really decided yet, but firstly I'm mainly focusing on them bonding again.<em>  
><em>Anyways, doesn't that review button look awfully lonely down there...mind giving it a little pat? kukuku <em>  
><em>Any little review is appreciated ^^<em>


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